EVERTON face a tough test as they travel to Italy’s surprise package in their opening Europa League match.

Atalanta finished 4th in Serie A last season above both Milan clubs and Lazio.

Commentary

This will be the first ever meeting between Atalanta and Everton and Atalanta’s first ever encounter with an English side.

Everton have faced Italian opposition on six previous occasions (W1 D2 L3), scoring in just one of those games – a 2-0 win in March 2008 at Goodison Park against Fiorentina.

The Toffees have lost all three of their away games in Italy without scoring – losing 0-1 v Inter Milan in a European Cup game in September 1963, 0-1 v AC Milan in a UEFA Cup game in October 1975 and 0-2 v Fiorentina in March 2008, also in the UEFA Cup.

The Orobici have faced British opponents once before, facing Merthyr Tydfil in the Cup Winners’ Cup in 1987/88 – they eliminated the Welsh side 3-2 on aggregate.

Atalanta are competing in European competition for the first time since the 1990/91 campaign, when they played in the UEFA Cup and reached the quarter-final.

Gian Piero Gasperini has managed in the Europa League previously – his Genoa side failed to make it out of the group stage in the 2009/10 campaign.

Everton have featured in two previous UEFA Europa League campaigns, making it out of the group stage on both occasions – they lost in the last 32 in 2009/10 and the last 16 in 2014/15.

In European competition, English sides have lost nine of their last 13 visits to Italy (W2 D2 L9).

In the Europa League only, just one English side has ever won against an Italian side away from home (P10 W1 D4 L5) – Liverpool defeating Udinese 1-0 in December 2012.

Everton’s Davy Klaassen featured in the Ajax team that reached the Europa League final last season – he played 13 games, scoring twice and assisting once.

Ronald Koeman hasn’t managed in European competition (excl. qualifiers) since the 2009/10 season with AZ in the Champions League – the Dutch side were eliminated at the group stage.